U.S. senator: 'We don't have anything to apologize for'

Senator Robert Torricelli

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-New Jersey, suggested Tuesday night that a continued diplomatic crisis with China might lead to the recall of the U.S. ambassador to China.

Appearing on "Wolf Blitzer Reports," Torricelli, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, "we're now in a new phase in the problem" regarding the standoff that has built since the collision of a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. spy plane.

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"In the next few days, if indeed there's not some movement from the Chinese, I think it becomes -- we're approaching it becoming inappropriate to have an ambassador and pretend that relation are normal with the Chinese," Torricelli said.

He said that he thought President Bush "has had enormous deference to the Chinese and exhibited extraordinary patience."

The diplomatic standoff began after the U.S. surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter on April 1. The Chinese plane crashed and the U.S. plane made an emergency landing on the Chinese island of Hainan.

The 24 U.S. military personnel aboard the surveillance plane are being held by the Chinese, who have demanded an apology for the collision.

The Bush administration contends there is nothing the U.S. need apologize for, since it says the U.S. aircraft was flying in international airspace when the collision occurred.

"The Chinese are looking for their own pilot in international waters," Torricelli said. "They're acknowledging they know this took place where we were entitled to be... We were not in the wrong. We don't have anything to apologize for; there's nothing to be explained. The Chinese know the situation."

Asked if recalling Ambassador Joseph Prueher, a retired Navy admiral, might be counterproductive to the U.S. effort, Torricelli said, "I don't doubt that he's very capable of being involved in this problem, but apparently he doesn't have audience that is willing to listen to him.

"I would argue that having him in Beijing on the pretense that relations are normal between the countries is also counterproductive," Torricelli said. "It's probably being misunderstood by the Chinese, who believe that we're prepared to tolerate this kind of conduct."

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